Algeria's southern unemployed demand oil jobs

In this photo dated March 14, 2013, protesters gestures during a demonstration by thousands of young unemployed men demanding jobs in the oil industry in Algeria?s southern city of Ouargla. Protests by the unemployed in southern Algeria are raising the specter of rising unrest in the country?s sensitive oil regions, and are increasingly attracting the attention of al-Qaida. (AP Photo/Nabil Zahani)

In this photo dated March 14, 2013, protesters gestures during a demonstration by thousands of young unemployed men demanding jobs in the oil industry in Algeria?s southern city of Ouargla. Protests by the unemployed in southern Algeria are raising the specter of rising unrest in the country?s sensitive oil regions, and are increasingly attracting the attention of al-Qaida. (AP Photo/Nabil Zahani)

In this photo dated March 14, 2013, a demonstrator holds a sign reading ?I am Algerian, where are my rights?? during a protest by thousands of young unemployed men in Algeria?s southern city of Ouargla. Protests by the unemployed in southern Algeria are raising the specter of rising unrest in the country?s sensitive oil regions, and are increasingly attracting the attention of al-Qaida. (AP Photo/Nabil Zahani)

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) ? Protests by the unemployed in southern Algeria are raising the specter of rising unrest in the country's sensitive oil regions, and are increasingly attracting the attention of al-Qaida.

Algeria's vast, sparsely populated Sahara only holds 10 percent of the country's population but it is home to this North African country's enormous oil and gas reserves ? the basis of the entire economy and the source of the government's power. Those who live there claim they aren't benefiting from that wealth, and can't get jobs with the oil companies.

Now al-Qaida has praised the protesters, raising the possibility that it is seeking support among the disaffected groups. The government is rushing to address the protesters' demands, but hasn't yet convinced them that it's serious.

Some 10,000 people ? an enormous number for the lightly populated region ?demonstrated on March 14 in Algeria's southern oil city of Ouargla, and thousands more later protested in another southern oil town, Laghouat.

"We want access to jobs in the oil companies, and not just the low-value ones like drivers and security guards; we want to be in the administration," Tahar Belabes, the head of the National Committee for Defense of the Rights of the Unemployed, which organized the demonstration, said by telephone from Ouargla.

"We just want the same employment possibilities. It's not normal that we live in the region where the oil and gas is located but don't benefit from it."

While youth unemployment is widespread in Algeria, and the rest of North Africa, the southerners say they are particularly discriminated against. There is also a widespread distrust of government officials, who are believed corrupt and skimming off the country's vast oil receipts.

Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal acknowledged on March 16 that the demonstrators' demands are legitimate and the government hurriedly announced a string of measures to address the perceived geographical bias in oil jobs. Oil companies will be obliged to give priority to job candidates from the south and recruitment must occur through registered employment agencies. The government announced that job-training centers would be set up to ready candidates for jobs with oil companies and hotels.

The demonstrations, however, have not stopped, and on Monday hundreds protested in the desert towns of Ghardaia and Oued Souf.

"The demonstrations are continuing because the young unemployed don't believe in official promises and they don't trust the local government representatives or their parliamentarians ? they want to negotiate directly with the government," said Kamal Zaidi, a member of an unemployed group in Laghouat and a human rights activist.

Most worrying for the government is that, on Friday, Al-Qaida's North African branch expressed solidarity with the demonstrations, slamming what they say is the corrupt use of the country's resources.

"The events of the south and the call of the people to protest in the streets is the natural response to the policy of marginalization and nepotism used by the corrupt Algerian regime," said the message posted on extremist websites.

Al-Qaida's signature tactic around the world has been to find marginalized groups in remote areas and espouse their cause, much the way they did with the disenfranchised Tuareg tribesmen in northern Mali, setting up a foothold that later became a de facto state before they were routed by the French in February.

In January, an al-Qaida-linked group for the first time attacked one of the country's remote desert gas plants.

While the leaders of Al-Qaida's Algerian branch are predominantly from the populous north, the leader of the attack on the Ain Amenas gas complex in January that left 37 hostages dead was a southerner ? Lamine Bencheneb, part of the radical Sons of Sahara armed Islamic group.

In the attack, the multinational team of militants appeared to know the complex inside and out, sparking reports that they may have had allies among the site's local drivers who had gone on strike over low pay just weeks earlier.

Geoff Porter, a veteran Algeria analyst with the North Africa Risk Consulting firm said the "unevenness" of past government investment programs have left a legacy of distrust in the south ? a region that also lacks the educational opportunities to produce the necessary skills for oil sector jobs.

Part of the problem, he added, is that the hydrocarbon industries don't require very much employment and there is little else going in these remote communities after the desert tourism industry dried up.

In attempt to curb the recent demonstrations, the government sent local parliamentarians, mostly from the ruling party, back to their towns in the south to hold meetings, but most of these were boycotted by the committees of the unemployed.

"The Algerian state has always had a policy of national investment and a great deal of money has been invested in the south, just like the other regions," said Mohammed Dhimi, one of the members of parliament from the south. "Perhaps the investments were not well thought-out or misdirected or didn't respond to the agricultural and industrial needs of the people."

"The protesters may sense that they have built up some momentum and that they are going to continue their protests until they see meaningful steps taken to deliver on the prime minister's promises," he said.

Belabes, the head of the unemployment committee, promised a new round of demonstrations in the coming days.

__

Schemm reported from Rabat, Morocco.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-30-Algeria-Southern%20Discomfort/id-a99447f6bb714530b4b3944b4055f1e7

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Men Who Do More Housework Have Less Sex

See Inside

Men who do more housework have less sex

By Rebecca Coffey

Image: Thomas Fuchs

Conventional wisdom suggests that women are drawn to men who help out around the house. Yet new research indicates that some divisions of labor may be sexier than others. A February paper in the American Sociological Review reported that married couples in which men take on a greater share of the dishes, laundry and other traditionally female chores had sex less often than average, which in this study was about five times a month. Yet couples in which men confined themselves largely to traditionally male chores such as yard work enjoyed sex more frequently than average. Taken to the extreme, men who performed all the traditionally female chores would have had sex 1.6 times less often than men who did none of them. The study authors, from the Juan March Institute in Madrid and the University of Washington, arrived at the correlation by crunching data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NFSH), which gathered survey information from 4,500 U.S. married couples. The researchers ruled out any kind of coercion on the part of the ?manly? chore-performing husbands by looking at data from the same survey on sexual satisfaction: they found that women from households with more traditional divisions of labor felt no less happy with their sex lives than women in more gender-neutral ones.

The study has its skeptics. Its data were gathered between 1992 and 1994, making demographer Sharon Sassler of Cornell University wonder about their relevance today. ?In the past two decades,? she says, ?who gets married has changed considerably.? Today most couples cohabit before marrying, and a large proportion of the women in those couples, Sassler argues, are not satisfied doing a disproportionate share of so-called women's housework. According to Sassler, frequently those couples do not marry, making the set of couples who would qualify for the NSFH today profoundly different from the set in 1992.

Study co-author Julie Brines, a sociologist at the University of Washington, says men and women have deep-seated ideas about what is masculine and feminine. Displays of masculinity may evoke feminine displays in women, which activates or intensifies sexual charge. Put the man on a rider mower, in other words, and boom?fireworks. Stand him at a sudsy sink, and it's a probable no go.

This article was originally published with the title Of Lust and Lysol.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4559671cbab311355de2955014d510f8

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Researchers show stem cell fate depends on 'grip'

Friday, March 29, 2013

The field of regenerative medicine holds great promise, propelled by greater understanding of how stem cells differentiate themselves into many of the body's different cell types. But clinical applications in the field have been slow to materialize, partially owing to difficulties in replicating the conditions these cells naturally experience.

A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has generated new insight on how a stem cell's environment influences what type of cell a stem cell will become. They have shown that whether human mesenchymal stem cells turn into fat or bone cells depends partially on how well they can "grip" the material they are growing in.

The research was conducted by graduate student Sudhir Khetan and associate professor Jason Burdick, along with professor Christopher Chen, all of the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Bioengineering. Others involved in the study include Murat Guvendiren, Wesley Legant and Daniel Cohen.

Their study was published in the journal Nature Materials.

Much research has been done on how stem cells grow on two-dimensional substrates, but comparatively little work has been done in three dimensions. Three-dimensional environments, or matrices, for stems cells have mostly been treated as simple scaffolding, rather than as a signal that influences the cells' development.

Burdick and his colleagues were interested in how these three-dimensional matrices impact mechanotransduction, which is how the cell takes information about its physical environment and translates that to chemical signaling.

"We're trying to understand how material signals can dictate stem cell response," Burdick said. "Rather than considering the material as an inert structure, it's really guiding stem cell fate and differentiation ? what kind of cells they will turn into."

The mesenchymal stem cells the researchers studied are found in bone marrow and can develop into several cell types: osteoblasts, which are found in bone; chondrocytes, which are found in cartilage; and adipocytes, which are found in fat.

The researchers cultured them in water-swollen polymer networks known as hydrogels, which share some similarities with the environments stem cells naturally grow in. These materials are generally soft and flexible ? contact lenses, for example, are a type of hydrogel ? but can vary in density and stiffness depending on the type and quantity of the bonds between the polymers. In this case, the researchers used covalently cross-linked gels, which contain irreversible chemical bonds.

When seeded on top of two-dimensional covalently cross-linked gels, mesenchymal stem cells spread and pulled on the material differently depending on how stiff it was. Critically, the mechanics guide cell fate, or the type of cells they differentiate it into. A softer environment would produce more fat-like cells and a stiffer environment, where the cells can pull on the gel harder, would produce more bone-like cells.

However, when the researchers put mesenchymal stem cells inside three-dimensional hydrogels of varying stiffness, they didn't see these kinds of changes.

"In most covalently cross-linked gels, the cells can't spread into the matrix because they can't degrade the bonds ? they all become fat cells," Burdick said. "That tells us that in 3D covalent gels the cells don't translate the mechanical information the same way they do in a 2D system."

To test this, the researchers changed the chemistry of their hydrogels so that the polymer chains were connected by a peptide that the cells could naturally degrade. They hypothesized that, as the cells spread, they would be able to get a better grip on their surrounding environment and thus be more likely to turn into bone-like cells.

In order to determine how well the cells were pulling on their environment, the researchers used a technique developed by Chen's lab called 3D traction force microscopy. This technique involves seeding the gel with microscopic beads, then tracking their location before and after a cell is removed.

"Because the gel is elastic and will relax back into its original position when you remove the cells," Chen said, "you can quantify how much the cells are pulling on the gel based on how much and which way it springs back after the cell is removed."

The results showed that the stem cells' differentiation into bone-like cells was aided by their ability to better anchor themselves into the growth environment.

"With our original experiment, we observed that the cells essentially didn't pull on the gel. They adhered to it and were viable, but we did not see bead displacement. They couldn't get a grip," Burdick said. "When we put the cells into a gel where they could degrade the bonds, we saw them spread into the matrix and deform it, displacing the beads."

As an additional test, the researchers synthesized another hydrogel. This one had the same covalent bonds that the stem cells could naturally degrade and spread through but also another type of bond that could form when exposed to light. They let the stem cells spread as before, but at the point the cells would begin to differentiate ? about a week after they were first encapsulated ? the researchers further "set" the gel by exposing it to light, forming new bonds the cells couldn't degrade.

"When we introduced these cross-links so they could no longer degrade the matrix, we saw an increase toward fat-like cells, even after letting them spread," Burdick said. "This further supports the idea that continuous degradation is needed for the cells to sense the material properties of their environment and transduce that into differentiation signals."

Burdick and his colleagues see these results as helping develop a better fundamental understanding of how to engineer tissues using stem cells.

"This is a model system for showing how the microenvironment can influence the fate of the cells," Burdick said.

###

University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127524/Researchers_show_stem_cell_fate_depends_on__grip__

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Business, labor close on deal for immigration bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Prospects for a Senate deal on an ambitious rewrite of the nation's immigration laws improved markedly as business and labor appeared ready to set aside their differences over a new low-skilled worker program holding up the agreement.

The AFL-CIO and U.S. Chamber of Commerce had been fighting over wages for tens of thousands of low-skilled workers who would be brought in under the new program to fill jobs in construction, hotels and resorts, nursing homes and restaurants, and other industries. But on Friday, officials from both sides said there was basic agreement on the wage issue, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said a final deal on the low-wage worker dispute was very close.

That likely would clear the way for Schumer and seven other senators in a bipartisan group to unveil legislation the week of April 8 to overhaul the U.S. immigration system, strengthening the border, cracking down on employers, allowing in tens of thousands of new high- and low-skilled workers and providing a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country.

"We're feeling very optimistic on immigration: Aspiring Americans will receive the road map to citizenship they deserve and we can modernize 'future flow' without reducing wages for any local workers, regardless of what papers they carry," AFL-CIO spokesman Jeff Hauser said in a statement. "Future flow" refers to future arrivals of legal immigrants.

Under the emerging agreement between business and labor, a new "W'' visa program would bring tens of thousands of lower-skilled workers a year to the country. The program would be capped at 200,000 a year, but the number of visas would fluctuate, depending on unemployment rates, job openings, employer demand and data collected by a new federal bureau pushed by the labor movement as an objective monitor of the market.

The workers would be able to change jobs and could seek permanent residency. Under current temporary worker programs, personnel can't move from employer to employer and have no path to permanent U.S. residence and citizenship. And currently there's no good way for employers to bring many low-skilled workers to the U.S. An existing visa program for low-wage nonagricultural workers is capped at 66,000 per year and is supposed to apply only to seasonal or temporary jobs.

The Chamber of Commerce said workers would earn actual wages paid to American workers or the prevailing wages for the industry they're working in, whichever is higher. The Labor Department determines prevailing wage based on customary rates in specific localities, so that it varies from city to city.

There was also disagreement about how to deal with certain higher-skilled construction jobs, such as electricians and welders, and it appears those will be excluded from the deal, said Geoff Burr, vice president of federal affairs at Associated Builders and Contractors. Burr said his group opposes such an exclusion because, even though unemployment in the construction industry is high right now, at times when it is low there can be labor shortages in high-skilled trades, and contractors want to be able to bring in foreign workers. But unions pressed for the exclusion, Burr said.

The low-skilled worker issue had loomed for weeks as perhaps the toughest matter to settle in monthslong closed-door talks on immigration among the senators, including Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida. The issue helped sink the last major attempt at immigration overhaul in 2007, when the legislation foundered on the Senate floor after an amendment was added to end a temporary worker program after five years, threatening a key priority of the business community.

The amendment passed by just one vote, 49-48. President Barack Obama, a senator at the time, joined in the narrow majority voting to end the program after five years.

___

Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/business-labor-close-deal-immigration-bill-185315130.html

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If All Embassies Looked Like This There Wouldn't Be Any Wars

Believe it or not, this is the Dutch Embassy in Ethiopia. It doesn't look like your average bureaucratic building, but perhaps more government agencies should take cues from not just its unusual aesthetic, but how the architects—Dick van Gameren and Bjarne Mastenbroek—drew influence from two different cultures. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/PFb_pt3Xz9g/if-all-embassies-looked-like-this-there-wouldnt-be-any-wars

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Suicide attack kills 6 in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? A suicide bomber attacked a convoy carrying a paramilitary police commander in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least six people, including two women, police said.

The apparent target of the attack in the main northwest city of Peshawar, Abdul Majeed Marwat who heads the Frontier Constabulary, was not hurt, said police official Dost Mohammed Khan.

The dead included three members of the security forces and three civilians, said Khan. Two of the civilians were women. Over 15 people were wounded, said Khan.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Peshawar is located on the border with Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region, the main sanctuary for Taliban militants in the country. The Pakistani Taliban have carried out many bombings in the city and other parts of the country targeting both security forces and civilians.

There is concern that the militants could step up the pace of attacks ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for May 11.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-attack-kills-6-northwest-pakistan-055523486.html

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Is Sonianomics An 'Occult' Form Of Economics? - india news network

Is Sonianomics An ?Occult? Form Of Economics?

Instead of economics, are Congress president Sonia Gandhi?s pet welfare schemes drawn from the occult?

In an Indian Express column that evaluates 15 years of Sonia Gandhi?s leadership, Chairman of Oxus Investments Surjit S Bhalla says that the Congress chief?s economic policies, which were aimed at helping the poor, but ended up hurting them the most, defy ?pure reason? and dubs them ?occult economics?.

Her policies have their origin in the creation of the Congress in 1885 by the Theosophical Society, an occultist movement, he says.

?Sonia UPA?s alchemy raised procurement prices of food grains beyond reason, helped a few rich farmers (say 20 million) and massively hurt ten times as many landless agricultural workers. And by generating super-inflation for four years, transformed the Indian economy beyond recognition,? says Bhalla.

Bhalla also analyses the economics of MGNREGA, a UPA pet scheme aimed at giving employment to the rural poor.

According to Bhalla, as per the NSS data of 2009-10, of the Rs 1,70,000 crore spent on MGNREGA, only a fifth reached the intended beneficiaries. In other words, about Rs 1,40,000 crore went to the non-poor. The scheme has helped nothing but corruption, says Bhalla.

Another example of ?occult economics? is the 2013-14 budget, in which the government aims at 13 percent GDP growth and 16 percent expenditure growth, which is to be financed with a 19 percent growth in tax revenue.

A third example of this brand of economics is the Food Security Bill, which is slated to be presented in the current Budget session of Parliament. The bill seeks to provide subsidised food grains to 67 percent of the country?s population.

According to a recent report in The Hindu, the bill would burden the government with a subsidy bill of about Rs 1.35 lakh crore.

Such economic policies have already halved the GDP growth, doubled inflation, depreciated the rupee by 20 percent and widened the current account deficit to 6.7 percent of GDP.

For the country to come out of the economic rot, Sonia has to change her occult spots by resorting to economic reforms, the Bhalla says. Otherwise, the Congress?and with it the country?will perish.

Source: http://hyd-news.blogspot.com/2013/03/is-sonianomics-occult-form-of-economics.html

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The Tactical Pen ? a pen James Bond would want

  Need a new multi-functional item for your EDC? Then take a look at the Tactical Pen from Cybernetic Research Labs. What makes this pen different from others is the addition of a carbide end-piece that can be used as an emergency glass breaker. The pen is built of several connecting sections, allowing for multiple [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/03/29/the-tactical-pen-a-pen-james-bond-would-want/

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GIRL, CRAFTED: Going Solo: a staycation on my own

Friday I am taking a mini-vacation. Solo.?
I'm not going far--just downtown Ottawa, where I'll be staying at the very cool Hotel Indigo--but this is a first. I realized recently that I have never done anything like this. I've traveled on my own, but always heading towards a person I was visiting. I have never taken time to be alone, for the purposes of leisure, away from the dubious respite of my messy house.

I have taken partners to hotels or inns for downtime; indeed, I am a huge proponent of mini stay-cations, and recommend everyone takes one from time to time with their sweetie. But it just never really occurred ?to me before to give myself that same TLC, all on my own. Of course, it's been a while since I was single, but I don't think a person should have to be single to do this. Solitary time, especially for us introverts, is crucial. When one is mated with another human, that time becomes even more scarce; maybe it's important to reclaim it.?

I'm not sure how it's going to feel to do this. I'm nervous, to be honest; my goal is to spend the time *alone*, not chatting on the phone or on google chat. I'm going to paint my toenails, tweeze my eyebrows, and go to dinner. I'm going to watch whatever movies I want, and in the morning I'm going to head down to the Byward Market for some bread and treats. I will decide what I want to do and when I want to do it, all on my own--no compromising, group planning, or negotiating. I will be at the mercy of my own whim.

It's kind of scary, though I don't know why.?

You can follow my tweets at @girlcrafted with hashtag #jordantime and there'll be a blog post after the stay. Or possibly during it, if I'm lonely for the sound of my own 'voice'.

See you on the flipside.

Source: http://girlcrafted.blogspot.com/2013/03/going-solo-staycation-on-my-own.html

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Pope reflects on Muslims during Good Friday procession

>>> and on this good friday in rome, pope francis led his first way of the cross procession that reenacts the crucifixion of christ. at night it's one of the more dramatic moments each year during holy week. the pope used the opportunity to reach out to the muslim community amid a time of deep turmoil of course across the middle

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a253170/l/0Lvideo0Bmsnbc0Bmsn0N0Cid0C51376599/story01.htm

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SoundHound now scavenging tunes in more tablet-friendly Android version

If you've ever had an earworm you just can't put a name to, the SoundHound music recognition app -- that even translates your humming -- can be just the sorcery you need. There's now an Android version with a more tablet-centric design and tighter Google integration that brings "streamlined sharing to Facebook, Twitter and more," according to the company. It also trumpeted a stronger relationship with digital music service Rdio, which added interactive music mapping to its SoundHounded track-linking abilities, letting you see others across the globe with the same musical tastes and bad memory. You can grab it at Google Play or Amazon's Appstore for Kindle, but if you're as tone deaf as some of us, don't forget the auto-tune.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4bnWH33yPpI/

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Richard Griffiths Dies, Harry Potter Actor was 65

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/richard-griffiths-dies-harry-potter-actor-was-65/

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How herpesvirus invades nervous system

Mar. 27, 2013 ? Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified a component of the herpesvirus that "hijacks" machinery inside human cells, allowing the virus to rapidly and successfully invade the nervous system upon initial exposure.

Led by Gregory Smith, associate professor in immunology and microbiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, researchers found that viral protein 1-2, or VP1/2, allows the herpesvirus to interact with cellular motors, known as dynein. Once the protein has overtaken this motor, the virus can speed along intercellular highways, or microtubules, to move unobstructed from the tips of nerves in skin to the nuclei of neurons within the nervous system.

This is the first time researchers have shown a viral protein directly engaging and subverting the cellular motor; most other viruses passively hitch a ride into the nervous system.

"This protein not only grabs the wheel, it steps on the gas," says Smith. "Overtaking the cellular motor to invade the nervous system is a complicated accomplishment that most viruses are incapable of achieving. Yet the herpesvirus uses one protein, no others required, to transport its genetic information over long distances without stopping."

Herpesvirus is widespread in humans and affects more than 90 percent of adults in the United States. It is associated with several types of recurring diseases, including cold sores, genital herpes, chicken pox, and shingles. The virus can live dormant in humans for a lifetime, and most infected people do not know they are disease carriers. The virus can occasionally turn deadly, resulting in encephalitis in some.

Until now, scientists knew that herpesviruses travel quickly to reach neurons located deep inside the body, but the mechanism by which they advance remained a mystery.

Smith's team conducted a variety of experiments with VP1/2 to demonstrate its important role in transporting the virus, including artificial activation and genetic mutation of the protein. The team studied the herpesvirus in animals, and also in human and animal cells in culture under high-resolution microscopy. In one experiment, scientists mutated the virus with a slower form of the protein dyed red, and raced it against a healthy virus dyed green. They observed that the healthy virus outran the mutated version down nerves to the neuron body to insert DNA and establish infection.

"Remarkably, this viral protein can be artificially activated, and in these conditions it zips around within cells in the absence of any virus. It is striking to watch," Smith says.

He says that understanding how the viruses move within people, especially from the skin to the nervous system, can help better prevent the virus from spreading.

Additionally, Smith says, "By learning how the virus infects our nervous system, we can mimic this process to treat unrelated neurologic diseases. Even now, laboratories are working on how to use herpesviruses to deliver genes into the nervous system and kill cancer cells."

Smith's team will next work to better understand how the protein functions. He notes that many researchers use viruses to learn how neurons are connected to the brain.

"Some of our mutants will advance brain mapping studies by resolving these connections more clearly than was previously possible," he says.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Northwestern University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Sofia?V. Zaichick, Kevin?P. Bohannon, Ami Hughes, Patricia?J. Sollars, Gary?E. Pickard, Gregory?A. Smith. The Herpesvirus VP1/2 Protein Is an Effector of Dynein-Mediated Capsid Transport and Neuroinvasion. Cell Host & Microbe, 2013; 13 (2): 193 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2013.01.009

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/DpfJns9Ndl0/130328091754.htm

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This week's featured adoptable pets at Metro Animal Services ...

Have a heart save a canine in need. We feature several dogs who need to get foster homes or adopted soon.

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Ranger is an adult Staffordshire Terrier. He is a friendly guy. This big guy needs to get a home soon as he is on LMAS urgent list. He has beautiful markings. He is eligible for free obedience training at Slugger City Bully Buddies. If you are interested in fostering or adopting Ranger to keep him from the euthanasia room contact Louisville Metro Animal Services immediately and have his Pet ID # A486427 handy.

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Clint is a one year old male Pit Bull. He is sweet, playful, friendly dog running out of time as he is on the very urgent list at Metro Animal Services. Look at the great big smile on his face, that says it all about him.?He is eligible for free obedience training at Slugger City Bully Buddies. If you are interested in giving Clint a reprieve from the euthanasia room by adopting or fostering him please contact Metro Animal Services immediately about him and have his Pet ID # A485315 ready.

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Layla is a sweet two year old female Pit Bull who recently had puppies. They have been weaned and she has been spayed so she will not be contributing to the unwanted pet population any longer. She is a sweet, friendly girl that gets along with other dogs. She is eligible for free dog obedience training at Slugger City Bully Buddies. This girl deserves to be re-homed in her very own responsible loving home. She was found as a stray. She is also on the urgent list so if you are interested in adopting or fostering her she could sure use some help to get out of the shelter alive. Have her Pet ID # A486584 available when contacting Metro Animal Services.

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Patches is a pretty female older Beagle/Cocker Spaniel mix. She is nine years old but still has plenty of love to give someone. She is such a pretty girl. She is an older dog so will be a little harder to place. If you like a quiet older dog and want to give her a place she can live out the remainder of life in a loving home then have her Pet ID # A354969 ready when contacting Metro Animal Services about her.

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Wooster is a super cute 3 month old Boston Terrier/Pit Bull mix puppy. He loves to give kisses and get attention from his human friends. He is neutered and up to date on his shots. Wooster is eligible for free obedience training at Slugger City Bully Buddies. Are you interested in giving this little guy a new leash on life? Have his Pet ID # A487298 when contacting Metro Animal Services about him.

To see all the adoptable pets at Louisville Metro Animal Services go to their section on the Petfinder website here.

For more information on this week?s featured pets contact Louisville Metro Animal Services at: 502-473-PETS (7387), or by email: Petfinder@louisvilleky.gov

For more information on adopting a pet go to the Metro Animal Services website here.

Metro Animal Service?s Animal House Adoption Center is located at 3516 Newburg Rd., Louisville, KY 40218.

Photos: Courtesy of Metro Animal Services, Louisville

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Source: http://www.louisville.com/content/week-s-featured-adoptable-pets-metro-animal-services-include-more-dogs-urgent-list

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EPA proposes tighter fuel, emissions standards; could push price of gas higher

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Automobiles pass by giant wind turbines powered by strong winds in Palm Springs, Calif.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

The Obama administration on Friday frustrated the oil industry by proposing tighter restrictions on sulfur in gasoline and pollution from cars and trucks ? rules that the government said would be equivalent to taking 33 million tailpipes off American roads but that angered the oil industry.

The?Environmental Protection Agency estimates the regulations would have almost no effect on the price of gas, but the industry, citing its own research, said the price could be driven higher by as much as 9 cents per gallon.

The proposed rules were reportedly delayed until after the election because of concern over their tricky politics.

Environmental groups called the restrictions a strong step to protect public health. The administration said the standards would prevent as many as 2,400 deaths a year and save $8 billion to $23 billion a year in health costs by 2030.

Car companies also support the restrictions in part because they create a nationwide standard for sulfur, cutting production costs.

?The only ones against these standards are the oil companies,? said Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club.

The main trade group for the refiners, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, said the standards were ?completely without merit? and too burdensome for the industry.

The American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil companies, said the rules were part of a ?tsunami of federal regulations,? and would ultimately raise greenhouse-gas emissions because of the energy-eating equipment it will take to bring refineries in line.

?We urge the administration to bring common sense back into the regulatory process,? said Bob Greco, director of the API?s Downstream Group. ?Unnecessary regulations just mean higher costs and lost jobs.?

The Obama administration has already required the auto industry to double fuel efficiency by 2025.

In every state but California, gas can contain sulfur at a measurement of up to 30 parts per million. The proposed rule would reduce the nationwide limit to 10, bringing the other 49 states in line with California.

Sulfur in gas makes catalytic converters less effective, and when catalytic converters are less effective, cars produce more of the gases and fine particles that cause harmful smog and soot.

In addition, the EPA wants to reduce tailpipe emissions beginning in 2017 ? cutting certain smog-forming chemical compounds by 80 percent and harmful particulates by 70 percent.

Car prices could be driven higher by $130, the EPA estimated.

House Republicans lined up against the idea and vowed to review it. Rep. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, chair of the House subcommittee on energy and power, said the administration ?cannot be more out of touch.?

Citing EPA research, deputy White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One that the impact on the price of gas would probably be a penny or less.

Trading that ?for tens of thousands fewer cases of respiratory ailments like asthma in children and thousands of lives saved is an indication that they?ve done a lot of work on this and a lot of analysis,? he said. ?But again, we?re in the proposal stage, not in the final rulemaking stage.?

The precise impact on the price of gas from the restrictions proposed Friday is impossible to predict, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service and GasBuddy.com, which tracks gas prices around the country.

Since the beginning of last year, refiners in North America have had it pretty good: They have enjoyed the cheapest natural gas in the world and, from Canada, cheap shale oil. That has meant fatter profit margins.

Several years ago, though, when prices were higher, refinery closures were common. And if refineries are under pressure as they are asked to convert to the new sulfur standards in five years, more could close.

That would leave the price of gas more vulnerable to price spikes.

?We?ve got plenty of time to prepare,? Kloza told NBC News. ?In truth, there are many, many moving parts in the oil business right now.?

Lately, the price of gas has been falling. Since rising almost 50 cents to an average of almost $3.75 a gallon, it has fallen steadily this month and is almost back to $3.60.

A senior administration official told The Associated Press that only 16 of the 111 refineries in the United States would need to invest in major equipment to meet the restrictions.

Of the remaining 95 refineries, 29 already meet the standards because they sell cleaner fuel in California or elsewhere in the world, and 66 would need to make more minor modifications, the AP reported.

?It?s been very prosperous,? Kloza said of the refineries. ?But history tells us it can turn very challenging very, very quickly.?

This story was originally published on Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:34 PM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a24c354/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C290C175183510Eepa0Eproposes0Etighter0Efuel0Eemissions0Estandards0Ecould0Epush0Eprice0Eof0Egas0Ehigher0Dlite/story01.htm

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Amazon acquires Goodreads, aims to make better recommendations for Kindle users

So, Amazon has a reading platform called Kindle. Goodreads has a platform that makes fairly excellent suggestions when it comes to reading materials. You probably see where this is going. This evening, Amazon announced that it was acquiring one of the more popular reading recommendation engines, and while the outfit isn't making clear what it plans to do with the technology, it shouldn't take a scholar to see how it'd bolster Amazon's Kindle reader line as well as its array of Kindle apps. (What'll happen to Shelfari, however, is perhaps a bigger mystery.)

Russ Grandinetti, Amazon's vice president of Kindle Content noted that "Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world -- together, we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike." It's entirely likely that this will add another social angle to the Kindle framework, further establishing an ecosystem where friends could see suggestions based on what they're independently reading through their own Kindle accounts. The companies are expecting the deal to be finalized in Q2, which suggests that we'll see a proper integration just as back-to-school season begins. Right, guys?

Filed under: Amazon

Comments

Source: Amazon, Goodreads

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/28/amazon-acquires-goodreads-kindle-recommendation-engine/

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Menino To Retire; Judd Won't Challenge McConnell; Woman Picks Wrong Place To Try To Cross The Border

Click hereto read online and see our archives.

WHAT'S NEWS

• Pres. Obama will attend dinner with a dozen GOP senators on April 10 -- his second such event in about a month -- as he continues to ramp up his outreach out to Congress (Roll Call).
• MA SEN Special: Reps. Edward Markey (D) and Stephen Lynch (D) "tangled over Lynch's vote" against the Affordable Care Act in a televised debate (Boston Globe). Meanwhile, ex-Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez (R) released his first TV ad, a bilingual spot touting his military service (AP).
• VA GOV '13: Ex-DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe (D) qualified for the Dem primary ballot after submitting nearly 36K signatures. AG Ken Cuccinelli (R), meanwhile, will be nominated at a statewide GOP convo on May 18 (Bristol Herald Courier).
• Boston Mayor '13: Mayor Tom Menino (D) will announce today that he will not seek a sixth term. City Councilor John Connolly (D), currently the only "major candidate" in the race, had vowed to run regardless of Menino's decision (Boston Globe).
• HI SEN: The League of Conservation Voters gave its earliest-ever endorsement to Sen. Brian Schatz (D), even as Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D) has yet to make a decision about the race (Honolulu Civil Beat).
• KY SEN: Actress Ashley Judd (D) announced on Twitter that she will not mount a bid, shifting Dem focus to Sec/State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) (On Call). Grimes "plans to file" for an exploratory cmte "as early as next week," according to "sources" (WHAS-TV). Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul (R) endorsed Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell (Daily Caller).
• NC SEN: Sen. Kay Hagan (D) announced her support for same-sex marriage, just four months after the state voted in favor of a constitutional ban on gay marriages (On Call).
• CO-03: Dems are recruiting state Sen. Gail Schwartz (D) and LG Joe Garcia (D) to challenge Rep. Scott Tipton (R) next year (On Call).
• KY-06: Businessman Joe Palumbo (D) said he is considering a bid after being approached by Dems to challenge freshman Rep. Andy Barr (R) (cn|2).
• SC GOV: '10 nominee Vincent Sheheen (D) is "in the midst of a three-week tour of the state promoting his book" and is "currently deciding if another campaign is in the best interests of both his family" and S.C. (Hilton Head Island Packet).

OUR CALL

Hotline editors weigh in on the stories that drive the day

? Tom Tancredo spoke up about Rep. Mike Coffman's moves on immigration, demonstrating the fundamental misunderstanding some in the GOP have about what Coffman et al are doing on immigration. Latinos vote Dem "because they want big government," not because of immigration, Tancredo argued, saying it's not worth trying to "mollify" the Hispanic community. But no one in the immigration reform wing of the GOP expects the party to suddenly start winning Hispanic majorities. They do, however, see a big, real opportunity to cut down their losing margins.

? The challenge for both sides of the VA GOV race is laid out in stark relief in yesterday's Quinnipiac poll. Currently, only 29% of voters view AG Ken Cuccinelli (R) as "too conservative," and even 25% of Democrats approve of the job he's doing. Democrats need to move these numbers, while Republicans need to maintain their advantage in another realm -- 44% of Virginians think the AG has the right experience to be governor, while only 28% say that of Terry McAuliffe (D).

? Menino's announcement isn't just the end of an era in Boston. It also means the Hub's open-seat mayoral race now has the potential to be one of the three most interesting political contests of 2013.

? The furor over Detroit's new emergency manager has sparked a backlash of locals not keen on being bossed around by an outsider -- but much of that outrage seems to directed at Jesse Jackson, who has staged rallies opposing the state takeover. No less than 10 Detroit Free Press letters to the editor Thursday called on Jackson to butt out, illustrating the tricky terrain Dems must navigate in fighting the EM while many of the locals whose rights they claim to be defending welcome a change from years of local government mismanagement.

HAIR OF THE DOG

"Dog left alone puts car into drive, hits pedestrian" (AP).

FRESH BREWED BUZZ

• An Orlando judge sentenced ex-FL GOP chair Jim Greer to "18 months in prison, followed by one year of probation" (Orlando Sentinel).
• "We pick a president with three general-election debates but it takes 20 debates to understand that maybe Ron Paul wants to blow up the Federal Reserve? Other important national questions are decided more expediently: it only takes 12 shows for The Bachelorette and The Bachelor to pick a mate" -- ex-Mitt Romney chief strategist Stuart Stevens, calling for fewer presidential primary debates in his debut Daily Beast column (Daily Beast).
• Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Wednesday witnessed a woman attempting to climb an 18 foot border fence "near where he and fellow senators were surveying the barrier wall" (CNN).
• "The administration remains committed to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay" -- WH deputy press sec. Josh Earnest (BuzzFeed).
• Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) "got into a late-night verbal altercation with U.S. Park Police officers earlier this month, pulling rank in an attempt to get out of a parking ticket near the Lincoln Memorial." Gohmert reportedly told the officers that "his congressional?parking placard allows him to park in that spot, and he?s on the committee that oversees the agency" (Politico).
• "She cursed just like anybody. I once told her, 'Jackie, there's a photographer behind your house,' and she'd say, 'That son of a bitch!'" -- hairdresser Edgar Montalvo, on first lady Jackie Onassis (New York Post).
• CA Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) "interest in history is expansive, but there are two things he appears to enjoy more than most. The first is quizzing schoolchildren about California's earliest explorers, as he has done since before taking office in 2011. The second is mule meat" (Sacramento Bee).
• "While my dad was alive, there was only one Rizzo" -- potential Philly mayor '15 Dem candidate/ex-GOP city Councilor Frank Rizzo (I), on why his father, ex-Mayor Frank Rizzo (D), never encouraged him to get into politics (Philadelphia Inquirer).
• Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson has signed with FNC as a co-host of "Fox & Friends Weekend" (release).

SWIZZLE CHALLENGE

• Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was a four-time state wrestling champion, and a two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion for the University of Wisconsin?Madison, where he defeated for the NCAA title John Smith, who went on to become a two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion.
• The winner is Todd Metcalf, and here's his Swizzle Challenge: "Which Supreme Court Justice has the westernmost burial place to date, and where is the late Justice buried?" The 3rd correct e-mailer gets to submit the next question.

NJ'S EARLY BIRD SPECIALS

SHOT...

"There's two kinds of marriage, there's full marriage and then there's sort of skim milk marriage" -- SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, during yesterday's oral arguments on DOMA (Huffington Post).

...CHASER

"Milk was a bad choice" -- Ron Burgundy ("Anchorman").

Sarah Mimms, Editor

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/menino-retire-judd-wont-challenge-mcconnell-woman-picks-085634604--politics.html

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North Korea readies rockets after U.S. show of force

By David Chance and Phil Stewart

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea put its missile units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and "judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation", the official KCNA news agency said.

The North has an arsenal of Soviet-era short-range Scud missiles that can hit South Korea and have been proven, but its longer-range Nodong and Musudan missiles that could in theory hit U.S. Pacific bases are untested.

On Thursday, the United States flew two radar-evading B-2 Spirit bombers on practice runs over South Korea, responding to a series of North Korean threats. They flew from the United States and back in what appeared to be the first exercise of its kind, designed to show America's ability to conduct long-range, precision strikes "quickly and at will", the U.S. military said.

The news of Kim's response was unusually swift.

"He finally signed the plan on technical preparations of strategic rockets of the KPA (Korean People's Army), ordering them to be on standby for fire so that they may strike any time the U.S. mainland, its military bases in the operational theaters in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea," KCNA said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported there had been additional troop and vehicle movements at the North's mid- and long-range missile sites, indicating they may be ready to fire.

"Sharply increased movements of vehicles and soldiers have been detected recently at North Korea's mid and long-range missile sites," Yonhap quoted a South Korean military source as saying.

It was impossible to verify the report which did not specify a time frame, although South Korea's Defense Ministry said on Friday that it was watching shorter-range Scud missile sites closes as well as Nodong and Musudan missile batteries.

The North has launched a daily barrage of threats since early this month when the United States and the South, allies in the 1950-53 Korean War, began routine military drills.

The South and the United States have said the drills are purely defensive in nature and that no incident has taken place in the decades they have been conducted in various forms.

The United States also flew B-52 bombers over South Korea earlier this week.

The North has put its military on highest readiness to fight what it says are hostile forces conducting war drills. Its young leader has previously given "final orders" for its military to wage revolutionary war with the South.

ECONOMIC ZONE

Despite the tide of hostile rhetoric from Pyongyang, it has kept open a joint economic zone with the South which generates $2 billion a year in trade, money the impoverished state can ill-afford to lose.

Pyongyang has also canceled an armistice agreement with the United States that ended the Korean War and cut all communications hotlines with U.S. forces, the United Nations and South Korea.

"The North Koreans have to understand that what they're doing is very dangerous," U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday.

"We must make clear that these provocations by the North are taken by us very seriously and we'll respond to that."

The U.S. military said that its B-2 bombers had flown more than 6,500 miles to stage a trial bombing raid from their bases in Missouri as part of the Foal Eagle war drills being held with South Korea.

The bombers dropped inert munitions on the Jik Do Range, in South Korea, and then returned to the continental United States in a single, continuous mission, the military said.

Thursday's drill was the first time B-2s flew round-trip from the mainland United States over South Korea and dropped inert munitions, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

Victor Cha, a North Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the drill fitted within the context of ramped-up efforts by the Pentagon to deter the North from acting upon any of its threats.

Asked whether he thought the latest moves could further aggravate tensions on the peninsula, Cha, a former White House official, said: "I don't think the situation can get any more aggravated than it already is."

South Korea denied suggestions on Friday that the bomber drills contained an implicit threat of attack on the North.

"There is no entity on the earth who will strike an attack on North Korea or expressed their wishes to do so," a spokesman for the South's Unification Ministry said.

Despite the shrill rhetoric from Pyongyang, few believe North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, will risk starting a full-out war.

Still, Hagel, who on March 15 announced he was bolstering missile defenses over the growing North Korea threat, said all of the provocations by the North had to be taken seriously.

"Their very provocative actions and belligerent tone, it has ratcheted up the danger and we have to understand that reality," Hagel said, renewing a warning that the U.S. military was ready for "any eventuality" on the peninsula.

North Korea conducted a third nuclear weapons test in February in breach of U.N. sanctions and despite warnings from China, its one major diplomatic ally.

(Additional reporting by David Alexander in Washington; Editing by Warren Strobel, Paul Simao and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-readies-rockets-u-flies-stealth-bombers-020309202.html

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Can you actually enjoy losing weight?

It?s March, which means you?re ready to slim down for spring. But you?ve also succumbed to the same unhealthy lifestyle habits that you vow to kick with your new year?s resolutions ? every year. Perhaps the problem is your perspective on losing weight. Weight loss coach Jena la Flamme tells SheKnows that keeping your resolve to shape up is as easy as making weight loss pleasurable.

We spoke to la Flamme, who is the founder of Pleasurable Weight Loss, a feminine approach to losing weight, about how to redefine the way we think about weight loss to make it sustainable and actually enjoyable. Change the way you diet and exercise and you?ll change your body.

SheKnows: What is pleasurable weight loss, and maybe more important, can weight loss actually be pleasurable?

Jena la Flamme: Weight loss actually has to be pleasurable or it isn't sustainable. We're either in stress mode (when we store fat) or relaxation (when our hormones are optimized and fat burning is turned on). Stressful diets are crazy. Anything that's stressful will put you into a stress response. Additionally, most women are lacking pleasure ? both while they eat and in their general lifestyle. Pleasurable weight loss is about finding those things that are pleasurable and using them create a healthier lifestyle. It starts with a mindset and then it becomes physical.

SK: Why do a lot of women have so many issues with sticking to a diet or healthy lifestyle choice?

"True pleasure is to find what gives you pleasure now, in a day, in a week, in a month, and a year."

JLF: They're lacking pleasure. We've been raised to think of pleasure as a reward for hard work. It's a once-in-a-while treat, rather than realizing pleasure is a biological requirement. Additionally, a lot of people really feel guilty about pleasure. They don't go the extra mile to find out what does give them pleasure. If you've grown up in a stressful environment, pleasure can feel really foreign.

Through evolution, all organisms have evolved to move toward pleasure and away from pain. We're metabolically programmed to get the sensory experience of eating and if we don't get that sensory part, our body is still hungry. We think we can control the body, but our body is stronger than our mind, and in terms of evolution, it?s older too. Don't back your body into a corner because your body's been so deprived of pleasure while you eat, and make it a priority to have a really pleasurable meal.

SK: Is it bad to have a stringent exercise and health routine, since for a lot of us exercising isn?t hugely pleasurable?

JLF: Stringent for who? If your body is having a good time out of it versus "Oh, I hate it, but if I just read a book on the treadmill or listen to my iPod it?ll go by faster,? it?s going to be more productive. You're not going to lose weight pleasurably by sitting on the couch. But the feminine body might prefer dancing, yoga or tennis or something playful and active. There's got to be something that will work if you're curious enough to find something that will work.

SK: How do you find that activity that works for you?

JLF: Use your curiosity to find these pleasurable activities (pole dancing, hula hooping, finding ways to connect with other women), and stay open to what's in your neighborhood, what's convenient, and what your friends are into?? trial and error [is a large part of it].

SK: A lot of people have already given up on their new year's resolutions to be healthier ? what can they do to get back on the horse?

A lot of times, [women?s] pleasure often gets lumped into one area?? food. To make eating more pleasurable and to facilitate weight loss, use these actionable tips:

• Switch to the idea that pleasure with food is good and necessary. If you don't have it, you're going to overeat.
• When you're stressed, you're desensitized to pleasure. Before you eat, relax. Take five big breaths, settle yourself down, eat in an environment that is relaxing and you'll be sensitized to pleasure.
• Seek unadulterated pleasure in every bite you eat. Do this by slowing down and breathing and feeling your body. Pay attention to what you taste, smell, see, feel and experience. This will activate your body?s natural appetite control.
• Eat to the point of energy. Notice and track your energy as you eat, on the spectrum between tired and energized. As you eat, your energy will go up. When you?ve had enough to eat, your energy will start to go down. Stop eating when you feel your energy decrease.

JLF: I would say rather than focusing on the [individual resolution], shift your focus from the goal to the environment (or what I call the ecology). Imagine you have a rainforest plant and it says, "Hey, I want to live in the desert," but then it withers and dies. Why? There wasn't a support system that would support its goals.

What will support your goals?

1. Community?? finding groups, finding classes, finding friends, putting yourself in an environment where people are already doing the types of pleasurable activities that you?re interested in. Say you join a mountain biking club. Those people like to wake up on Saturday morning, they like to go biking and eat healthy food. By becoming part of the group, you'll start to be influenced by the group's thoughts and activities.
2. Be really honest with your desires. What do you really want? Why do you want it? What will having this do to you? Why is it so important to you? And then respect and honor that desire and pursue that desire. Keep focused and keep working towards that desire through baby steps. People think that their desires are "I want to lose weight." They need to get more honest with themselves about what they really want because then they'll have more motivation to pursue [their goals] rather than abandoning them and just fitting in with a status quo.

SK: Are exercise trends detrimental?

JLF: I always tell my clients to "diversify your pleasure portfolio." If you find something you love, don't leave it behind because of the herd. One definition that I use is to define true pleasure and counterfeit pleasure: "True pleasure is to find what gives you pleasure now, in a day, in a week, in a month, and a year" versus ?Counterfeit pleasure: I ate a pint of ice cream; I drank a bottle of wine ? but in an hour you have a sugar headache; in a day you're bloated; in a week, you've gained 5 pounds.? Have a long-term view of pleasure and look for things that give you sustainable pleasure.

More weight loss tips for women

Supermodel weight loss tips for real women
Weekend detox diets that work
Are food intolerances to blame for your weight gain?

Source: http://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/988613/how-to-enjoy-losing-weight

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Jobless claims rise, but GDP data shows more growth

By Jason Lange

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, but not enough to suggest the labor market recovery was taking a step back.

Other data on Thursday showed the economy expanded at an annual rate of 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter, more than the government had previously estimated.

The reports reinforced the view that the economy perked up in the first quarter, although it still appeared vulnerable to fiscal austerity measures that kicked in early in the year.

"The underlying growth trend is showing some encouraging signs, but the key risk is how much fiscal tightening we'll see this year," said Laura Rosner, economist at BNP Paribas in New York.

While jobless claims increased more than expected last week, they have trended lower this year and remain near five-year lows. Last week, initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 357,000, the Labor Department said.

The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market trends, rose 2,250 to 343,000.

Still, for many economists a trend reading below 350,000 level points to a firm pace of hiring in March.

"The improvement in the underlying pace of layoffs during the first three months of 2013 has been meaningful," RBS analysts said in a note to clients.

A drop in layoffs doesn't necessarily signal an increase in the pace of hiring, but Gennadiy Goldberg, an analyst at TD Securities in New York, said the trend in claims was consistent with employers adding about 195,000 workers to their payrolls in March.

That would be a slower pace of hiring than during February but still suggestive of a labor market recovery that is taking hold. The U.S. government's estimate of job growth for March - known as the non-farm payrolls report - is scheduled for release on April 5.

Investors appeared unmoved by the data. U.S. Treasuries prices fell as relative calm in Cyprus, where banks reopened under tight government control after they were shut for nearly two weeks and the island nation received a 10-billion-euro bailout, reduced safe-haven demand for low-yielding U.S. government debt. U.S. stock prices rose, with the Standard & Poor's 500 briefly trading above it October 2007 record closing high.

Despite an acceleration in hiring since mid-2012, the Federal Reserve has appeared worried that budget tightening by the government could dampen progress in the labor market. Last week, the Fed's policymakers renewed a pledge to keep buying bonds at a monthly pace of $85 billion until the labor market outlook improved substantially.

Recent data has shown the economy gathering strength. Retail sales have been stronger than expected, manufacturing output has picked up and employment growth has quickened, with the jobless rate dropping to 7.7 percent in February from 7.9 percent in January.

A report on business activity in the U.S. Midwest ran counter to this trend, with the Institute for Supply Management-Chicago business index falling to 52.4 in March. That was below analysts' expectations and pointed to slower growth.

A BIT MORE GROWTH

The U.S. Commerce Department said it increased its estimate of fourth-quarter economic growth because of a big gain in business investment and higher exports of services.

The 0.4 percent growth rate, which was the slowest since the first quarter of 2011 and far from what is needed to fuel a faster drop in the unemployment rate, was just below the 0.5 percent gain forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Much of the weakness came from a slowdown in inventory accumulation and a sharp drop in military spending. These factors are expected to reverse in the first quarter, when many economists see an economic growth rate closer to 3 percent.

The fourth-quarter rate was, however, higher than the government's previous estimate of a 0.1 percent gain. Compared with the overall economy, consumer spending growth looked a little more robust, expanding at a 1.8 percent annual rate.

Thursday's report is the government's third estimate of growth for the final three months of 2012. In the first estimate, the government shocked economists by saying the economy shrank at a 0.1 percent annual rate.

The reasons for the meager pace of economic activity were mostly as initially estimated.

Inventories subtracted 1.52 percentage points from the GDP growth rate in the fourth quarter, a bit less of a drag than in the second GDP estimate, which was published on February 28. Defense spending plunged at a 22.1 percent rate, shaving 1.28 points off growth as in the previous estimate.

There were some bright spots in the fourth quarter, however. The report showed business investment rose at a 13.2 percent rate, a bigger gain than initially estimated. The extra growth was mostly from more construction spending by businesses.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Additional reporting by Lucia Mutikani in Washington, with Richard Leong and Leah Schnurr in New York; Editing by Neil Stempleman and Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jobless-claims-rise-labor-market-still-healing-123217700--business.html

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